If it wasn’t for a couple of Nintendo franchises doing what they do best, Horizon: Zero Dawn would be a front-runner for Game of the Year awards all around the globe. While that opening sentence may seem negative, it’s anything but: who could have predicted that Guerrilla Games would rebound from the safe but largely unspectacular Killzone franchise with such panache? Aloy’s inaugural adventure was a triumph in both world-building and combat design, and even though it fell into traditional open world trappings at times, it still had more than enough personality to standout in a genre dominated by cookie cutter collectathons.

The Frozen Wilds sees the Dutch developer return to its post-post-apocalyptic well for a good old-fashioned expansion pack, and it serves up more than enough tribal action to satisfy even the most robust robot hunter’s appetite. Set to the North East of the main map in snowy Banuk territory known as The Cut, the additional storyline sees Aloy once again embroiled in local politics as the painterly weraks of the winter wonderland face a fresh threat on their society by way of an erupting volcano named the Thunder Drum. It’s down to the strong-willed starlet to solve the problems – and learn a thing or two about the world that she inhabits in the process.

While you can pick up the new quest line mid-way through the main campaign, it’s not really advised. This is a tough piece of post-release content, with some of the fiercest enemies you’ll have faced yet. Old favourites return in Daemonic form, possessed and more aggressive than ever before, while the sprinkling of new faces will make you want to weep. In particular, the Fireclaw – a new behemoth of a brute that perhaps best resembles a bear – will push your combat skills to their very limits, as you tussle with its devastating roster of attacks in the hopes of bringing it down.

Fortunately, you’ll stumble upon a few fresh tools in order to help you to go about your business. A trio of new staffs with ice, fire, and electric elemental powers are the headline new additions, and can be upgraded by completing specific fetch quests. There are also heavily upgraded versions of some of the main game’s best bows, but you’ll need to collect Bluegleam (a new currency) in order to trade for them, so don’t think you’re going to be able to purchase them off the bat from your Platinum run.

The quests are much more rewarding this time around, with the trickle of unlocks and upgrades constant from start to finish. Unfortunately, it does feel like Guerrilla’s a little bit stumped about what to add: there’s a new Skill Tree but most of the unlocks offer inconsequential upgrades to your adventure, like 20 per cent additional inventory space or the ability to loot while you’re mounted. It’s cool that the developer’s made the effort, but you do definitely get the sense that it’s a little thin on ideas for the time being.

Not that this add-on is creatively bankrupt. The storyline is well-told and complements the campaign, and while it does fall on some narrative clichés, it’s wholly pleasant and a fun ride. Furthermore, the handful of side-quests feel even meatier this time around, with better supporting cast members and varied design – one even playing a little like an Uncharted level with an AI sidekick accompanying you through the whole thing.

And artistically, The Cut is, well, a cut above. Guerrilla’s really gone to town with its blizzard tech, but it contrasts the harsh winter environments with glittering sunsets that segue into rainbow coloured auroras. The new landscape isn’t enormous, but it’s packed with imagination: an underground water filter system installed by the Old Ones is leveraged as a makeshift musical instrument by the Banuk, while the volcano itself sheds a little more light on key narrative beats. For as gorgeous as it all undeniably looks, though, the soundtrack stands out yet again, led by some superb electronic ambience music that really sets the tone.

It’ll take you a good 15 hours to beat the primary new quest lines, and frankly you’re looking at closer to the 20 hour mark if you want to engage with all the busywork to boot, which is very agreeable when you consider the price the developer’s flogging this for. The bloat is a bit boring, and gathering up new collectibles – even though they are given narrative grounding – is tiresome, but any excuse to stay in this world a little longer before Guerrilla inevitably gets to work on a sequel is welcome as far as we’re concerned.

Conclusion

Horizon: Zero Dawn delivers a timely reminder of why it should be a Game of the Year candidate with The Frozen Wilds. This sizeable selection of snowy quests expands upon an already excellent campaign with a decent new storyline and plenty of fresh exposition. While it is, by its very nature, more of the same, it’s hard to complain when the foundations are already so strong.

While i greatly enjoyed my run through Aloy's adventure, i felt heavily the lack of layers in the game systems.
It gave me a spectacularly rewarding combat gameplay and no real reason to get good at it besides slogging to the (personally) too long campaign, which was by itself alone already more of the same even without this expansion.
I want real crafting, MH style, i want to climb wherever i feel i should be able to.
I wouldn't mind seeing real consequences of my choices too, because comparing HZD to The Witcher 3 or even calling it an rpg is frankly ridiculous.
As it is, it feels to me like a beautiful but shallow game, the same way i feel about basically every Naughtydog game.
I hoped Guerilla would show some more ideas for this IP, but adding more snow and more monsters is plainly boring, considering it seems as they bet heavily on the story, which is nice but average.
I'm worried about HZD 2, tbh.

@get2sammyb Size in GB? It's getting mighty cramped in there. I can't believe Uncharted Lost Legacy, what started as DLC, is 46GB on the store, that's insane. This pre-downloads soon, correct? We pre-ordered it awhile back.

So we just come across it mid game in the northeast somewhere? That's interesting. I still haven't started the game yet, was waiting on this. Not worried about the difficulty, I'll be playing on easy, maybe even Story if things take too long, but hopefully it won't come to that, sometimes just knowing it's an option is enough of a crutch.

EDIT: Oh, anybody still looking to pick this up, $25 at Target in their Black Friday ad they just released. It's hard to see, just the spine, but it's there (I think). 1TB PS4 Slim is $199 if you need one of those to play it.

@Bliquid Tbh I don't want anymore complex and pointless mechanics in these games, The Witcher 3 over did by putting in mutagens that tied to skill trees that didn't seem to make much of a difference. And the whole herb crafting part I just left all together. That's why I love Horizon because it's an open world RPG that trimmed that fat.

@get2sammyb : i'm worried because the things i mentioned could have been in the base game, and they went for the "wow" effect instead.How hard is to think about "kill X Thunderjaws until you have enough parts for a Thunderjaw armor/weapon"?And please, you must know that it wasn't six months.By the things as they are, i see no will whatsoever to go beyond the eyecandy blockbuster.As i said, i enjoyed HZD enough, i just wish it to live up to the Masterpiece IP it can be instead of a popcorn game.

Excellent review although I wonder why I read it as I knew this expansion would be as great as the fantastic main game.Had this on preorder so can't wait to fling all my other games aside and jump back into Aloys world!

@Bliquid I totally agree with you. I went through the game at Hard with no HUD but it still felt like hunting was nothing more than a distraction. Getting rat bones was harder than raiding a cauldron... The game would have been far better with some kind of "survival mode".

I preordered on the PSN the moment it went live, and I'll download it tonight, but I probably won't have time for a few weeks to sit down and dig into it. I want to wrap up, South Park Fractured But Whole, Yooka-Laylee and Guardians of the Galaxy Telltale before I move into another game.

@Fight_Teza_Fight Hmm. I had to download an 8.7GB file for the review, so I don't really know anymore. I imagine this will be available from tomorrow for everyone else (seeing as the content's not out yet).

@get2sammyb Finished downloading 1.40 and in the patch notes it says 'support for The Frozen Wilds expansion added'.Hope that's all there is to it, as i have terrible internet. Would literally take me a day to download ~9GB.

@Bliquid Well it's got skill trees, optional dialogue and crafting mechanics so yes you can call it an RPG like many others have. Just because other games have more then the other doesn't mean it isn't an RPG.

Im absolutely loving the game but i REEEEALLY wish theyd do an update that adds a grab ledge function. Not an auto grab but while mid air a certain button would grab. Kind wish we could adjust the camera a bit as its a tad low for my liking though thats a negligible concern really.

Well that would help explain it. Seriously I bought 3 games yesterday in part b/c of the file sizes being so big. I mean I know they have to install anyway, but DLing 40+GB games, even with my fast internet that's hours. I bought Rise of the Tomb Raider b/c it came w/ a book. That was only 16GB, which is still about 75 minutes. Can't wait for PS5k when every AAA game is 100GB minimum.

@adf86 : they aren't skill trees as there are no branches plus you can unlock everything hence no choice (the very definition of rpg).They are just unlockable perks. So now CoD is an rpg too?

Different reactions with different dialogue choices IS a rpg characteristic, but since they are TOTALLY inconsequential in HZD you gotta be desperate to make them count.

There is NO crafting at all, what are you talking about?Maybe the different currencies needed to BUY a handful of incremental armors and weapons from a vendor?Oh, or maybe you consider potions and ammo worth mentioning as crafting.

@Bliquid I feel like you are really stretching to try and not call this an rpg. "The exact definition of an RPG" is any game where you take control of a character(s) and do quests in a fictional world.

I get that you like crafting but come on man FF7 had no crafting whatsoever...are you going to say that it wasnt an RPG? It also had little to no dialog options with absolutely no change to the outcome. Yet it has gone down as one of the best RPG's of all time.

You can argue you don't like it all you want or that it should have had more crafting...but it is an RPG by its very definition.

To answer your question. I would argue that COD is a FPS and not a RPG as it is usually a world based on reality... Where as something like metroid is an FPS/RPG hybrid.

@Splints HZD is not a rpg, is an action adventure, period.Nothing wrong with that, and instead of reading only the last comments you could at least go back in the thread and read that it was other people who said that crafting, dialogue choice, etc.are what makes a rpg.I was simply responding point by point to them.Ofc, the moment you "take the role" of a character in a "video game" you are "role playing", dude, and if by that definition you want to call FIFA 2018 an rpg be my guest.In the greater sense yes, all videogames ARE rpgs, but if i sold you Arkanoid as a space themed rpg i'm sure you'd ask me your money back.

@Bliquid I agree that in a very broad sense all video games would be RPG's. Just as I assume you would agree that a lot of lines are blurred in regards to specific genres and most games are defined with 2 or more genres.

I also agree that this is a very action oriented RPG. But I still think it has the 3 elements to an RPG that you need. You control a character, in a fictional world, and you complete quests. I would call it an action/rpg in the vein of Zelda and you would call them both action adventures I suppose...To each their own. Don't really want to argue just wanted to point out that there are games like ff7 that are 100% an RPG but do not fit any of your qualifications.

Can anyone help? I preordered this months ago and it automatically downloaded the other day so it would be ready for the 7th. However when I tried to start it today (Wednesday 8th), it says it can't start until release day (can't remember the exact wording but it's something like that). Anyone got any ideas?